Planning brakes??

12-04-2012, 11:07 AM

My action list is never ending so I can be in doing mode the whole day. I just stop to have a meeting or process new inputs. Sometimes forget to eat Do you plan work brakes? Any advice for workaholics?

I think "workaholics" are people who have remained in the busy trap so long that it's become their default mode of operation. It's a habit that can be tough to break.

Knowing that your inventory of defined work is complete and current you can give yourself permission to feel good about putting that stuff aside long enough to eat lunch.

No matter how long the lists are make sure that you continue to update and review them regularly. That will give your mind the freedom to let go enough for you to put it aside and go do something else.

"You can only feel good about what you're not doing when you know what you're not doing." -DA

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Have you read The Now Habit by Neil Fiore? It's primarily talking about procrastination, but there were a few things I found useful to apply to my own workaholic tendencies.

He talks about an 'unschedule' - where you schedule all the fun stuff, and work has to fit around that. I've found imposing those kind of limits on work to be very helpful (i.e. no work between X and X or after X). But the crucial piece of the puzzle is to plan what I'm going to do with the non-work time, for example, decide that between X and X I'm going to go for a walk to X. If I don't do that, I easily slip back into my default work mode.

I have been known to concentrate on a task to the point where I forget to eat or drink. Time just evaporates. But I am not in the zone, really. I am drained and exhausted when I come up for air.

So, I adopted Pomodoro technique - you work on a project for 25 min (or whatever works for you) and then take a break. I have FocusTime app on my phone and it buzzes when my time is up. I get up, get some water or coffee, stretch, and I am ready for the next chunk. You can use any kind of timer. The point is to bring you back to reality.

I also try to alternate my "thinking" tasks with "mindless" tasks. This way my brain is still available to me at the end of the day.

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If you have to separate your work from the fun stuff you've probably made the wrong career choice

But to the OP, yes action lists are generally never ending, thats normal, what I do to combat this, or at least to make me feel better, is to plan my action list for the day the night before and get busy knocking those tasks out the following day and if I finish those tasks with time and energy spare I will go to my next list for something else to do but if I lack time or energy I am done anyway.

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Ok we'll it's actually something I learn from a book called ZTD. But simply put, every evening I will empty my inbox and then scan my next list picking the tasks I want to complete the next day. I have a morning routine that I follow first thing AM (which becomes habit after a while) then move onto my planned tasks. If I don't complete them all (which does happen, life being life n'all) I usually do them asap the next day.

I find by adding a little structure via planning to GTD makes a lot more sense to me personally. It gives me a sense of control and I can get more done with a little rigidness rather than 100% in the moment decision making ala GTD.